At peak times up to 80,000 customers visit the EKZ at ÖBB Vienna daily. (Source: Weber Tec, Hamburg)

If you’re not moving forwards, you’re moving backwards

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BahnhofCity Wien West in Vienna is one of the busiest shopping centres in Europe. Escalators always ready for action guarantee the extraordinary shopping experience.

High availability and reliability of escalators and moving pavements play a decisive role in the acceptance of a shopping experience. Hardly any other automated transport system can transport people faster from A to B than an escalator, provided it is not at a standstill.

Fast and smooth repair method

"If you’re not moving forwards, you’re moving backwards.” This popular saying is particularly applicable to the condition of escalators and moving pavements. The latest example of repairs of the two escalators in the main traffic axis of the shopping centre in Vienna’s Westbahnhof showed how quickly and smoothly escalator repairs can be carried out by a specialist company during ongoing centre operation.

The shopping mall belongs to the property portfolio of ÖBB Infrastruktur AG / ÖBB Immobilienmanagement GmbH and is managed by the German company ECE. There are 90 shops on three levels, including a new floor beneath the station, on a floor space of 17,000 m2. Hence there is a lively coming and going upstairs and downstairs.

If these traffic routes cannot be used, it means losses of time, turnover and detours for both operators and passers-by that no one willingly accepts. When looking for a fast, smooth repair method, the ECE facility manager came across the Hamburg service provider Weber Tec, which provides repairs on the spot and in installed condition using its innovative EsCare repair method.

EsCare – the innovative repair solution

HandwerkThis procedure is called EsCare, which has already proven its value at many reference installations in very busy locations in railway stations, airports, shopping centres and suburban mass transit stations. During the repair the ribs to be repaired are sand-blasted, with the dirt separated and oil and grease particles recovered, along with the blasting material, almost without any residue. Consequently no dirt remains in or on the stairs.

Thanks to the incline adjustment of the machine and weight, the mobile repair system is also suitable for transport via escalators and moving walks. Restoration of the ribs is achieved with a specially developed and comprehensively tested filling material, with which the damaged rib can be restored to its original condition following processing.

Everything runs like new

The repaired RW01 and RW03 escalators were a system with three parallel escalators on which up to 80,000 people are transported daily at peak times. Faults had been identified in the escalators and they had been immediately deactivated on account of worn ribs (up to nine per step) during the regular maintenance and care inspections by the TÜV and operator.

With EsCare the four-man service team of Weber Tec needed four days for the first escalator with a total of 148 steps and three days for the second RW03 lift with 148 steps. It was possible to carry out most of the repairs just in time during the day. The low noise emissions of the machine during repair can be compared with those of a vacuum cleaner at the distance of a metre.

These are the biggest escalators that WeberTec has so far repaired while installed using its repair method. The operator was satisfied. Now everything runs like new.

Susanne Rurländer

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